Posted By Tara Kuczykowski On December 30, 2013 @ 11:19 pm In living on less | No Comments

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Back in high school, I was all about giving myself fancy manicures. My friend and I would swap nail colors and embellishments daily. Did you ever do the nail charms?!? I was totally not above painting my nails bright orange with a clear rhinestone on each to match my cheerleading uniform...

But when I became a Fine Arts major in college and constantly had my hands in clay, paint, chalk pastels, etc., detailed manicures quickly became reserved for special occasions. And then when I got married and had five kids in the span of 5-and-a-half years, well, finding time to paint my nails even for special occasions was nearly impossible.

As my kids get older and more self sufficient, I'm finding it a little easier to squeeze in some pampering time once again, but I still prefer to give myself my own manicures rather than go to a salon. I've had a salon manicure maybe three times in my entire life, and I'm just not a fan -- not to mention it's not cheap.

So I'm thankful that kits like this Kiss Gradation Nail Polish Kit that I picked up at Walmart make giving myself a Pinterest-worthy manicure easy and inexpensive! Priced at under $7, you can easily get dozens of manicures from it at a fraction of the cost of a salon manicure.

Let me demonstrate it for you using my daughter, Camden, as a hand model:

Basically you layer the three different nail polishes contained in the kit to create a faded-style manicure like the ones that are all the rage on Pinterest. Step one requires two coats of the base nail polish, which in this case is a pale, shimmery gold shade.

Steps two and three happen kind of simultaneously. First you paint on the second polish, a darker shimmery gold shade, on just the top 1/3 of your nail over the initial base coat. Then while this second shade is still wet, you go back over the top 1/2 of your nail with the third polish, a clear glittery top coat, which will fade the first and second shades together.

It really was that simple to use, and I love the way it turned out! I did add a final quick dry top coat to seal everything and speed the drying time.

The Kiss Gradation Nail Polish Kits come in several different shades for a range of looks. I chose the gold because I felt like it was the perfect combination to use for the entire holiday season, taking me right through both Christmas and New Year's!

Are you a salon manicure junkie or do you prefer to DIY your manicures, too?